The Crescent Sun
by moonswirl
Summary: Gleekathon, day six hundred and twenty-five: Quinn and Rachel know what they want in all this, even if they still need help sorting it out.


_Started my daily ficlets to make the hiatus pass, then decided to keep going with a 2nd cycle, and then a 3rd, 4th, etc through 29th cycle. Now cycle 30!_

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><p><strong>Hear that little bird twitter!<strong> _Been thinking about doing this for a couple days, then this morning decided to just go for it. If you go there, find 'gleekathon' and there I'll be. There's also a video explaining everything... Yep... ;) Check it out!_

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><p><strong>"The Crescent Sun"<br>Rachel & Quinn  
>Sunshine Girls #30 (following 'If that happy dawn should ever shine')<br>[check out the Sunshine Girls community, through my profile!] **

Quinn was going to keep the baby. Not many people knew so far… her mother, her sister, and Rachel. It would have seemed like she might have told one or two more, mainly the one who thought he was the father, and the one who actually was, but she had insisted for it to remain a secret for now, for reasons she wouldn't give, though Rachel had a pretty good idea why.

She didn't bring it up at first, for the simple reason that, if it were ever to come up, then she'd have her own questions to answer, and… she couldn't do it either. And then came the nursery weekend.

Quinn's older sister, Alice, had suggested they turn the guest bedroom, which had once been her room, into a nursery for the baby. It was right next to Quinn's room, it was spacious, and it was free. Then Judy Fabray had gone one step further and suggested they turn the attic into the guest bedroom, so they wouldn't lose that in the process. These days the room was mostly used for when Rachel stayed the night anyway. Judy had shown herself a lot more supportive than what Quinn would have imagined, but she guessed it might have something to do with everything that had happened with her father and his expulsion… Quinn wasn't going to complain. She couldn't even think what it would have been like, to not have her mother supporting her through this.

With a long weekend, motivation, and a plan, the transformation began. The attic was cleaned, the guest bedroom furniture was moved – with the help of Rachel's fathers and Quinn's brother-in-law – and now the empty room was ready to be redecorated. Ideas were shot back and forth on colors and schemes, but ultimately it would be Quinn's choice. Pink was part of it, yes, but she didn't want it to be overwhelming, so there was a good amount of white, and sunny yellow.

Quinn insisted on helping with as much of it as she could – which was more than they would have let her do otherwise – and finally they were good to move on to the rest of the decoration. They could have waited, on all of it, for months still, but Quinn had wanted to do it now, almost to symbolize to herself that she'd made her choice.

Rachel arrived to the Fabrays' house on Sunday morning, for the final arrangements – with a box in hand. She found the blonde standing before the crib which they had assembled with Judy and Alice the day before – with much frustration – and just looking at it, with a stack of blankets in her arms.

"Quinn?" Rachel spoke, breaking through her quiet contemplation. She put the stack down inside the crib, taking a step back. She wasn't talking yet though, and Rachel put down her box, taking a step forward. "Are you…"

"I just want her to have a father…" Quinn's voice was fragile, like she had either been crying or been on the verge of breaking down. "And the idea that she might not, because of my stupid mistakes…"

"Of course she'll have a father," Rachel shook her head, but Quinn's eyes had spilled a tear or two now.

"Since this whole thing started, with my father, I've spent so much time, wondering how to trust my memories of him now… everything he was to me when I was little, everything I thought my parents were, together… And then I think about her," Quinn's hand went to her belly. "I want so much for her to be able to have these memories, of a father, and not to risk losing them for one reason or another."

"What makes you think she would?" Rachel asked, still not sure they had gotten to the root of what it was that bothered her. Quinn took in a breath, let it out.

"I've got one guy who has no idea I've just… I've lied to him… because I needed to, because I needed… him… and he'd been so, so good in all this. And then I've got another guy, who's made promises, who I want to trust, but who… I don't feel like I really have him… I ask myself what would happen, one way or the other, but more than that I ask myself… what I know is right. All this time, I know, I had the answer but the thought of shutting one door for good scared me even more because of that thing with my father. What if I'd shut the wrong door? But I figured it out. The other door won't close; it can't. But it won't be open either." Rachel didn't respond right away. It wasn't so much for confusion; she'd managed to work it out. But now there she was with this, and she had to find a way to reply.

"You want to make it work with Finn," she nodded. Quinn took a moment, but she nodded.

"Took me a while to figure it out. I just know that, when I think about what we were like before all this… who I was… and then I think about what happened after… I spent so much time not being myself, but he would bring out the other side sometimes, and I didn't realize how much that mattered until I found out I was pregnant. I looked to him for support and he gave it to me… Sometimes I feel I don't deserve him. But then I think how… I need someone like him in my life, and I actually got him… No matter how we got to where we are, I know I love him… but I could still lose him, for the very thing that made me realize how much I needed him."

"You need to tell him. That, and all of it. It can't come from someone else," Rachel's words made Quinn remember just who it was that she was laying this explanation on. She looked to her friend.

"You're not upset?" Rachel turned then, moving to retrieve the box she had put aside.

"I got something for the nursery. Found it at the mall yesterday, and I just couldn't not get it," she smiled, turning to Quinn. But Quinn was looking at her, like she was putting pieces together.

"Hang on…" she started, but Rachel put the box in her hands.

"Open it," she insisted. Quinn couldn't argue, so she opened the box, and then she laughed. She pulled out a mobile, which unfolded to show the shapes dangling from it were five smiling suns. "It can't be too early to give her some sunshine," she smirked. Quinn let out a breath, hugging her.

"Thank you," she bowed her head for a moment, then, "So I guess we both made our choice. It could have been worse; they could have conflicted." Rachel looked at her, lost, or caught, or both.

"Sorry?"

"I don't know, maybe I'm imagining things. But I just told you I wanted to stay with Finn, and you didn't blink. You encouraged it." Rachel just kept looking at her, still not getting it. But just as Quinn was about to speak again, Rachel's face shifted, found surprise. "There it is," Quinn nodded.

"I didn't… I mean, I…"

"It's okay," Quinn promised, looking almost amused. "Just… be careful?" she decided on the words. "Talking not as a cautionary tale but as your friend," she clarified. Rachel still didn't speak, and Quinn could see all the thoughts were still bouncing around inside her head. Maybe they were better off putting the discussion aside, for her sake, the better to let it sink in. So she lifted the mobile up again. "Should we hang it?" she smiled, poking one of the suns so it would wave like a pendulum.

"Yeah," Rachel finally spoke. "Yeah, let's just… let's do that."

THE END

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><p><strong>AN: This is a one-shot ficlet, which means that signing up for story alert will not bring you any alerts.  
><strong>**In the event of a sequel, the story will be separate from this one. And as chapter stories go, they are  
><strong>******always clearly indicated as such [ex: "Days 204-210" in the summary] Thank you!******


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